Three city council races on Victoria ballot Saturday

It appears voter turnout will be low in Saturday's Victoria City Council races for mayor and two super district races.

George Matthews, elections administrator, estimated only 10 to 12 percent of the voters will take time to cast ballots, including those who participated in early voting.

That amounts to about 3,500 to 3,800 voters, he said.

Matthews said it's not easy to understand why more people aren't voting in the council races, which include mayor, Super District 5 and Super District 6.

"It's dangerous territory to try to speculate why people don't vote," he said. "I've been told it's everything from there's a voodoo hex on the elections to people saying the elections are rigged to people saying it doesn't make a difference."

The winners of each race will serve three-year terms.

The only citywide race is for mayor and includes three candidates. One of the candidates in that race will have to win more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.

Incumbent Will Armstrong, 69, is finishing up his second term. He is the co-owner of a moving and storage company.

Challengers are write-in candidate Chelle Nickerson, a 24-year-old shift supervisor at Starbucks Coffee, and Robin Holy, who has described himself as mentally disabled since 1989.

Voters in the south half of Victoria will also be able to vote in the Super District 5 race, which pits incumbent Joe Truman against challenger Emett Alvarez.

Truman beat Alvarez by 41 votes in a special election a year ago to fill the unexpired term of Jim Wyatt, who resigned a year before his three-year term expired.

Truman, 47, is vice president of Truman Transfer and Storage Inc. Alvarez, 48, is co-owner of Revista de Victoria newspaper.

Voters in the north half of Victoria will also be able to vote in the Super District 6 race.

Jeff Williams, co-owner of the Bible Book Store, is taking on incumbent Mayor Pro Tem Tom Halepaska, co-owner of Halepaska's Bakery. Williams is 50 and Halepaska is 60.